Stiaan van Zyl has extended his contract with Sussex Cricket.

The news tops off an excellent few days for the left-handed batsman, whose 101 not out steered Sussex’s successful run chase against Durham in the Specsavers County Championship last week.

Stiaan van Zyl - Picture by John Mallett

Reacting to his extended deal, the 31-year-old said: “I am extremely grateful to sign an extension with Sussex.

“Since starting in 2017, I’ve enjoyed every second at the club and with my teammates. I’m looking forward to many more games with this wonderful club.

Head coach, Jason Gillespie said: “We’re delighted that Stiaan has agreed to continue his career at the club. He’s a senior batsman of international quality who contributes significantly with his performances and he’s a great lad on top of that.

“We like to make sure our players are learning from each other and Stiaan sets a great example in terms of his approach to his preparation as well as how he goes about things out in the middle.”

Van Zyl joined Sussex ahead of the 2017 season and has since scored over 1,500 first-class runs for the club at an average of over 44, despite missing much of the 2018 season through injury.

He has also scored 400 runs in 17 one-day and T20 appearances for Sussex Sharks as well as taking 14 wickets for the club across all formats with his right-arm medium pace.

In total, van Zyl has over 10,000 first-class runs, over 3,000 List A runs and almost 1,500 T20 runs in his career. He also played 12 Test matches for South Africa between 2014 and 2016.